Women of the Bible
Jezebel: A Woman Devoted to Wickedness
1 Ki. 16:9-15, 31-33; 18:4-19; 19:1-3, 17-18; 21:1-25; 2 Ki. 3:1-2, 13; 9:7-10, 14-37; 2 Ch. 29-34.
By Kathryn Capoccia 

Scriptures references are from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION, 1995 translation, by Thomas Nelson, Inc, © 2006, 2020, used by permission.

The name Jezebel is equated with wickedness, wantonness, and ruthlessness because of one woman, Queen Jezebel of Israel, a former Phoenician princess who lived in the 9th century B.C. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a jezebel as “an impudent, shameless, or morally unrestrained woman.” The meaning of the Hebrew name Jezebel is uncertain but may be linked to the word zebel, which may mean “prince” or “exalted.” Possible meanings of Jezebel include, “Where is the Exalted One (Baal)? “Baal Exalts,” “unexalted,” unhusbanded, or “without cohabitation.” So evil was she that her name, Jezebel, was ascribed to the wicked, false prophetess of Revelation, chapter two, who led God’s people into idolatry and immorality (Rev. 2:20-22).  She is the classic example of the corrupting influence of wickedness and the antithesis of “the godly woman.”  She led her husband astray and thus her nation, she opposed everything godly, and she indoctrinated her children with lies.  However, she eventually received her reward for her efforts—an ignominious death and eternal damnation.  

WHO WAS SHE?

She was a Sidonian Princess.
“And as though it had been a trivial thing for him [Ahab] to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians” (1Ki. 16:31). 
She was a Phoenician. 
The Phoenicians were a Semitic people who occupied the narrow coastal region of northern Canaan which is now modern Lebanon, and parts of Syria and Israel. These Canaanites had established a loose confederation of colonies throughout the eastern Mediterranean that were united by a common language, culture and religious beliefs, but each city-state was a politically independent kingdom ruled by a king or hereditary ruler. They were called Phoenicians by the Greeks because they made and sold purple dye (phoinikies) from Murex trunculus shells, a rare and expensive commodity. The Phoenicians were also skilled navigators and traders, and they established an extensive trade network throughout the Mediterranean. 
 She was a Sidonian. 
The word “Sidon” is the Greek name for the Phoenician port city of Sidonia (meaning fishery or fishing town). The city was named for Sidon, the firstborn son of Canaan (Gen. 10:15), and probably his descendants settled in this area. Sidon (now known as Saida) was built on a hill and several small islands, the largest of which sheltered a very large harbor on the north side from storms; it also had a large bay on its south side, making it perfect for maritime trade. It was one of the four most important Phoenician cities (Sidon, Aradus, Byblos, and Tyre), and perhaps the oldest. Sidon was the capital city-state of Phoenicia approximately 75 miles northwest of Jezreel and 90 miles due north of Samaria, the capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Sidonians were rich, cosmopolitan and progressive because of their purple dye industry, and because of their glass works, ship building and embroidery. The Topical Encyclopedia noted, “Sidon, along with its sister city Tyre, was a hub of commerce and innovation, contributing to the spread of the Phoenician alphabet and other cultural advancements.”  
Sidonians were very religious, worshiping a pantheon of Phoenician gods. However, they revered three gods above all others, Eshmun, Baal, and Astarte or Ashtoreth. Archeologists in Sidon have found the remains of two great temples, the Temple of Eshmun, the patron god of the city, and the monumental College site temple. Eshmun was regarded as the god of healing and renewal of life and his temple complex was built near sacred springs. Baal was a powerful storm god, whose “special maritime, celestial and meteorological attributes” made him indispensable to sailors, and his provision of rain made him “the giver of life” for agriculture. Astarte (Ashtoreth) was a goddess of war, sexuality, royal power, beauty, healing and hunting, and was the female consort of Baal (in the Greek culture she was known as Aphrodite). Baal and Astarte were both associated with fertility and their worship involved fertility festivals and dances timed with agricultural cycles, and with ritual immoral acts with male and female temple prostitutes; it was rooted in sensuality and perversion. These gods also had to be appeased with ritual offerings of food and sacrifices, including human sacrifices, usually of the worshiper’s firstborn son (Jer. 19:5). “The priests of Baal appealed to their god in rites of wild abandon which included loud, ecstatic cries and self-inflicted injury” (1Ki. 18:28).
Sidon was closely associated with Tyre. Tyre, meaning “a rock,” was a famous seaport of the Phoenicians, located 25 miles south of Sidon; it was considered by some to be a colony of Sidon. Tyre was principally built on an island with two harbors, but it had a mainland extension about a half mile from the island. The island of Tyre was densely populated, leading to the construction of multi-storied buildings, and became noted for its masons and engineers. It was famous for shipbuilding and seagoing navigation, as well as the “Tyrian Purple” dye, dyed cloth, and cedar timber. Israel’s King David and King Solomon relied on Tyre’s King Hiram I for cedar and cypress logs and construction workers for the erection of the Temple in Jerusalem (1Ki. 5; 6:1, 38). Tyre's chief god was Melquart, or Baal, and was the principal seat of Baal and Astarte worship in Phoenicia at that time; in fact, the original name for the city was Melqart. A magnificent temple to Melqart with two large pillars, a gold pillar, and a smaller pillar of emerald glass or precious stones, had been constructed in Tyre by Hiram I, in the 10th century B.C., which was later copied by King Ahab for the Baal temple in the Northern Kingdom of Samaria. 
She was a princess.
Jezebel’s father was Ethbaal, also known as Ithobaal I (“Baal is with him” or “With Baal”), the King of Sidon and Tyre. He was also a priest of Astarte (Ashtoreth) and Melqart (Baal). According to Josephus, who quoted Menander of Ephesus, Ethbaal had become king by murdering his predecessor, Phelles, and usurping his throne. He was born in 915 B.C. and died in 856 B.C. at the age of 68 or 69, having reigned for 32 years. Ethbaal is reputed to have been a grandson of Hiram I, king of Tyre (2Sa. 5:11), who was friend to King David and King Solomon (these facts come from Josephus). As king of Sidon and Tyre he ruled over the most important port cities in the Phoenician region. To cement friendly relations between Phoenicia and Israel he betrothed his daughter, Jezebel, to Israel’s King Ahab. 

WHAT DID SHE LOOK LIKE?
Phoenicians are described as having long, oval faces, with almond shaped, dark eyes, thick straight noses, olive skin, and thick, dark, curly hair. The average height for men was five feet four inches. Elite Phoenicians were known to wear eye kohl like their neighbors in Egypt and Mesopotamia, red lip powder and pink cheek powder.  They wore sandals on their feet and the upper classes were meticulous about their appearances. She probably wore the famous purple hued clothing that her city-state was known for. 
She Was An Israelite Queen
She married King Ahab of Israel and became his queen. She was not his only wife (1Ki. 20:5) and their marriage was not a love match, but she wielded great influence over her husband.
As the Biblical Archaeological Society noted,
Jezebel’s marriage to Ahab was a political alliance. The union provided both peoples with military protection from powerful enemies as well as valuable trade routes; Israel gained access to the Phoenician ports; Phoenicia gained passage through Israel’s central hill country to Transjordan and especially to the King’s Highway, the heavily traveled inland route connecting the Gulf of Aqaba in the south with Damascus in the north.
She and Ahab had at least three children together, a daughter and two sons. 
WHO WAS KING AHAB?
“Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all who were before him” (1Ki.16:30).                         “And as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him (1Ki. 16:31).
King Ahab was the seventh king of Israel, the northern part of the divided kingdom of Israel (the southern part was called Judah). His father, King Omri, the sixth king, had come to the throne of Israel after a four-year civil war, c. 885 B.C., and he reigned for twelve years (c. 885-874 B.C.). He built the kingdom’s capital city of Samaria on an easily defended tell (1Ki. 16:23-24), and it remained Israel’s capital for the duration of the kingdom. He was an evil king: 
“Now Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, and acted more wickedly than all who were before him. For he walked entirely in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and in his sins into which he misled Israel, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols” (1Ki. 16:25-26). 
Jeroboam I, the first king of Israel, had introduced idolatry into the northern kingdom with two worship centers to Yahweh (in Dan and in Bethel) with golden calf icons and a non-Levitical priesthood, and he made “houses” on high places at which the people could worship as well. This was to keep his people from returning to Judah to worship God at the prescribed festivals and potentially reunite with the house of David (1Ki. 12:27-33). 
Omri’s son, Ahab, may have been born in 918 B.C. He succeeded his father and reigned for twenty-two years, from 874 B.C. to 853 B.C. (2Ki 16:29). He allowed the idolatry instituted by Jeroboam to stand as if it were a trivial, qualal, “to be slight, trifling,” thing, though it cost Jeroboam his dynasty and condemned Israel to future deportation (1Ki. 14:7-18). Secular history says Ahab’s reign was successful being “marked by prosperity, building projects, military success against Syria, and a significant alliance with the Phoenicians;” but the Bible says that he harmed Israel more than any other king up to that point (1Ki. 16:30), and it also makes it clear that God was behind his successes in order to glorify Himself in Israel and Syria (1Ki. 20:13, 28). Looking at the names of his children, Athaliah, “strong is Jehovah,” Ahaziah, "held by Jehovah," and Jehoram, "he whom the LORD exalts," and his exhibition of repentance with sackcloth and ashes after a prophetic rebuke (1Ki. 21:27-29), it is evident that he had some belief in God, but he did not regard God as the only true deity (1Ki.16:31). As king he seems to have ruled from two locations, Samaria and Jezreel. 
WHAT WAS SAMARIA LIKE?
Samaria (“watch-tower”) was a large city about 30-35 miles north of Jerusalem and 25 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea, built on a high hilltop, and surrounded by three defensive walls. King Omri had established the city as his capital in 880 B.C. (moving the capital from Tirzah where he had reigned for six years) and he there constructed a two-story palace with an adjoining pool as his royal residence (1Ki. 16:23-24). There also King Ahab is said to have built an “ivory house,” with beds and couches of ivory (1Ki. 22:39; Amos 6:4), but it is unclear whether this was a new palace or an embellishment of Omri’s palace. Ivory covered its wall panels, furniture, gaming pieces and utensils. It was strategically located “on the main east-west route that linked the coastal plain of Israel with the Jordan Valley.” As the capital, it was the political and cultural center of the Northern Kingdom. When the city fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C., Sargon deported 27,290 people. 
WHAT WAS JEZREEL LIKE?
Jezreel (“May God Give Seed” or “God Will Sow”) was located on Tell Jezreel, a rocky spur in the foothills of Mt. Gilboa, in the Jezreel Valley. It sat on the junction of two major highways, the “Via Maris,” that connected Egypt with Assyria, and the “Ridge Route” that led to all the major Israelite cities. It also sat at the entrance to the Samarian hill country and guarded the way to the city of Samaria. The city was constructed as a military fortress, possibly the nation’s military headquarters, with a double defensive wall, four defensive towers on its corners, a massive four or six-sided gate on the southern face, a dry moat on three sides, and with its northern side built into a steep slope. It had an administrative complex and a large two-story house, bayith, “a house,” that was Ahab’s residence. The Bible mentions a vineyard, belonging to Naboth, as being near Ahab’s house (1Ki. 21:1). The area enclosed by the protective walls was almost 11 acres. There were water cisterns inside the city walls, a spring of water northeast of the fortress and good grazing for animals in the Jezreel Valley, so archeologists believe that Jezreel was where Ahab’s cavalry and chariot corps were based. Several passages in the Bible speak of Ahab’s wars with neighboring countries so it is natural that he would sometimes be based in his foremost military fortress (1Ki. 18:45; 21:1). 
WHAT DID SHE DO? 
She Promoted Idolatry
WHY?
She was trained to be wicked.
Vladimir Lenin is reputed to have once said, “Give us the child for eight years and it will be a Bolshevik forever.” Aristotle said, “Give me the child until he is seven and I will show you the man.” The Bible concurs that children are very impressionable and once taught well will keep to that teaching for all their lives: “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Pro. 22:6). Jesus also said, “Everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Luke 6: 40; Mat. 10:24-25). Jezebel was brought up by a ruthless and zealous pagan, by a father who was a priest to his pagan gods, by a man who had murdered to get what he wanted, and she became just like him. 
She was a sinner.
When Adam and Eve had rebelled against God in the garden of Eden and had eaten the forbidden fruit, the consequences were sinful and depraved natures, estrangement from God, and spiritual and physical death (Gen. 3). These characteristics were then handed down to all mankind through their offspring (Rom. 5:12, 19; Rom. 7:14; Psa. 51:5). “For as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners” and “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world…” (Rom. 5:19, 12). And the Psalmist David wrote, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psa. 51:5). Because of Adam and Eve every unregenerate person is characterized as:
“In the flesh.” The New Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines flesh in this way, “Flesh [is] the physical bodies of humans or animals… In a stronger sense, flesh is the earthly part of a person, representing lusts and desires (Eph. 2:3). The flesh is contrary to the Spirit [of God] (Gal. 5:17). Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:8).” The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans, chapter seven and verse eighteen, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh.” John MacArthur wrote, “The flesh serves as a basecamp from which sin operates…” “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior,  idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21). “The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Rom. 8:7).       A slave of sin and Satan (Jn. 8:34; Rom. 6:6, 16, 20; 2Co. 4:4; 2 Tim. 2:24-26). “Do you not know that the one to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? (Rom. 6:16). “Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin” (Jn. 8:34). “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, skillful in teaching, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim. 2:24-26). Jesus said to the unbelieving Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father” (Jn. 8:44). “You [Christians] formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving” (2Co.4:4).   She was a reprobate (“a person who is morally corrupt, spiritually rejected by God, and beyond the hope of salvation”).
She had suppressed the truth about God (Rom. 1:19-23).
“Because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind, of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures.” 
 She had a depraved mind (Rom. 1:28-30). 
“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,  without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (Rom. 1:28-32).   
She had been “given over” by God to sinfulness (Rom. 1:24-32).
“Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them” (Rom. 1:23-24).  “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions” (Rom. 1:26). God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil” (Rom. 1:28, 29).
Commentator Herbert Lockyer profiled Jezebel’s life this way:
While the Bible does not analyze or even portray her character, but sets forth events in which she bore a prominent part, yet as we read between the lines we cannot fail to see her as a woman of prodigious force of intellect and will… Savage and relentless, this proud and strong-minded woman carried out her foul schemes. A gifted woman, she prostituted all her gifts for the furtherance of evil, and her misdirected talents became a curse. Persuasive, her influence was wrongly directed. Resolute above all other women, she used her strength of character to destroy a king and her own offspring, as well as pollute the life of a nation.

A. She introduced organized Baal worship into Israel.
	1. She brought the pagan priests of Baal and Asherah to the royal cities of Samaria and Jezreel. Whether she brought them with her when she married Ahab or sent for them later, her idolatry was in violation of 	God’s law (Exo. 20:3) and such paganism had brought judgment down on King Solomon years before (1Ki. 	11:8-10). 
	2. She supported 850 pagan priests at her table, shulchan, “a table.” She personally supported and 	maintained these men during a time of drought and famine, possibly in the palace itself, probably at the expense of the king.
	“Now then, send orders and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with 450 prophets of Baal 	and four hundred prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table” (1 Ki. 18:19).
	3. She had pagan temples constructed in the royal cities. “Not [being] content with establishing the idol 	worship of her own country in Ahab’s court, she sought to convert Israel to Baal worship. Two heathen 	sanctuaries were built, one at Samaria with its 450 priests, and the other at Jezreel with its 400 priests.” This signified that Baalism was the official religion of the state. 
B. She incited her husband to do evil.
“There certainly was no one like Ahab who gave himself over to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him” (1 Ki. 21:25).        
	1. She incited, suth, “to incite, allure, instigate,” King Ahab. 
	HOW DID SHE INCITE HIM?
	“And as though it had been a trivial thing for him [Ahab] to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, 	he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal, and worshiped 	him. So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made the 	Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were 	before him” (1 Ki. 16:31-33).
		a. Ahab built a shrine for Baal. 			1) He built, banah, “to build,” a house, bayith, “a house,” for Baal and erected, qum, “to 				arise, stand up, stand,” an altar there in Samaria like the one in Tyre (1 Ki. 16:32). No 				description exists of Ahab’s altar or temple but it undoubtably duplicated the Tyre 				temple’s two great ornamental columns at its entrance, and inside was the “eternal fire”  			which represented the god’s regenerative powers. Ahab’s temple was a direct violation 				of God’s first commandment, that “you shall have no other gods before Me” (Exo. 20:3).				As with Solomon, who built shrines for his foreign wives, the Ahab’s altar made God 				angry (1 Ki. 11:8-10). Ahab also made a stone pillar of Baal, probably an image of Baal, 				which was placed in his temple in Samaria (2 Ki. 10:26-27).  			2) He made, asah, “do, make,” an Asherah (1 Ki. 16:33). This was a carved pole or post 				which represented the goddess of fertility and consort to Baal; often this pole depicted a 			mother-figure with exaggerated breasts. An Asherath pole was strictly forbidden by God 				(Deu.7:5).  			3) He served, and worshiped, shachah, “to bow down,” Baal. 
		b. Ahab forsook, azab, “to leave, forsake, to loose,” the commandments of the LORD and 				followed, halak, “to go, come, walk” + achar, “the hind or following part,” the Baals (1 Ki. 				18:18). The Northern Kingdom that Ahab ruled had been started with idolatry by 				Jeroboam and had been influenced with Baalism before his reign (Jdg. 2:11, 13; 3:7; 				10:6, 10; 1 Sa. 12:10) but Ahab’s acceptance of and participation in Baal worship gave it 				official approval. “The Baals” refers to a group of Canaanite storm and fertility gods (Jdg. 				2:11). 	
		“There certainly was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD” 			(1Ki. 21:25).
		c. Ahab sold himself to do evil (gave himself over to do evil): 			1) He sold, makar, “to sell,” himself. 			2) He did evil, ra, “bad, evil,” in the sight of the LORD.
		Matthew Henry had this to say about Ahab:
		There was none like him, so ingenious and industrious in sin, and that made a trade in it. He sold himself     			to work wickedness, that is, he made himself a perfect slave to his lusts, and was as much at their beck      			and command as ever any servant was at his master’s. He was wholly given up to sin, and, upon condition 			he might have the pleasures of it, he would take the wages of it, which is death, Rom. 6:23. Blessed Paul 			complained that he was sold under sin (Rom. 7:24), as a poor captive against his will; but Ahab was 			voluntary: he sold himself to sin; of choice, and as his own act and deed, he submitted to the dominion of 			sin.
		Another commentor remarked, “His culpability to this hideous drama lies chiefly in his using his 			personal power as a means to Jezebel’s wicked ends. For without Ahab’s authority, Jezebel would 			have been a serpent without fangs.”
		d. Ahab acted abominably.
		“He acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom 			the LORD cast out before the sons of Israel” (1 Ki. 21:26).
			1) He acted very abominably, taab, “to abhor;” God abhorred Ahab’s idolatry. 			2) He was following, balak, “to go, come walk” + achar, “the hind or following part.”  			3) He was following idols, gillul, “an idol.” 
		WHO WERE THE AMORITES?
		The Amorites were an ethnic group in Canaan who worshiped many pagan gods, with Baal and 			Ashtoreth being the most important. The worship associated with these gods involved moral and 			spiritual defilement. They were a threat to the purity of the Israelites for their immoral practices 			and idolatry. So hateful were the Amorites to God that they were judged (Gen. 15:16) and in time 		purged from Canaan under the wars of the Israelite Exodus (Exo. 23:24; Num. 21:21-35). 			Specifically, their sins were idol worship, child sacrifice, witchcraft and divination, various 			forms of ritual prostitution, sexual immorality, incest, and bestiality.
		e. Ahab brought disaster, raah, “evil, misery, distress, injury,” to Israel. 
		He allowed the superstition, immorality and cruelty of paganism to infect the people of Israel and 		to abandon their faith in the true God. One commentor declared, “With Ahab, Israel’s spiritual 			decay reached its lowest point. He was even worse than his father, Omri, who was more wicked 			than all before him.” 
		Beyond the spiritual disaster he wrought in his country he was also responsible for great 				economic hardship. The drought that he had precipitated by his sanctioning of idolatry harmed 			the crops of olive oil and wine, and livestock such as cattle and horses, upon which the nation’s 			prosperity depended.
		f. Ahab provoked, kaas, “to be vexed or angry,” the LORD (1 Ki. 16:33). 
		According to Google AI Overview,
		The phrase “provoking God” refers to actions or attitudes that violate His covenant, character, and 				commands, thereby arousing His righteous indignation. The concept is prominent throughout the				 Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, where it describes Israel’s repeated acts of idolatry and rebellion. 			Provoking God is not an accidental misstep but rather signifies a deeper spiritual state of a hardened, 			unrepentant heart.
		The Topical Bible adds,
		The concept of provoking God is a recurring theme throughout the Bible, illustrating the serious 				repercussions that follow when individuals or nations act in defiance of His will. Provoking God 				often involves acts of disobedience, idolatry, and rebellion, leading to divine judgment and 				discipline.
		“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of 			men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is 			evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His 			invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being 			understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they 			knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their 				speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and 			exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of 			birds and four-footed animals, and crawling creatures.”
		R. C. Sproul, in his sermon on Romans, chapter one, said this,
		God is not simply annoyed. He is not merely irritated. Rather, His anger is an anger of passion, that there 			are paroxysms of rage and fury in God for the things Paul mentions in this text. Paul says God has revealed 			His fury for what? It is an anger directed not against innocents, not against righteousness, but “against all 			ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” Think for a moment how perfectly appropriate it is that a holy 			and righteous God would be moved to anger against evil.

She Persecuted the Righteous.
A. She tried to eliminate God’s people.
	1. She killed, harag, “to kill, slay,” the prophets, nabl, “a spokesman, speaker, prophet,” of the LORD. 		She had ordered her servants to hunt down and slay with the sword the men who spoke God’s words to 	the people (1 Ki. 18:13; 19:10).
	“Has it not been told to my master what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord…” (1 Ki. 18:13).
	 But God had intervened to save some: 							 	Obadiah, Ahab’s manager, had saved 100 prophets from being killed (1 Ki. 18:13).	 	The prophets Elijah, Elisha and Micaiah had lived through the initial purge.	 	An unnamed prophet had assured Ahab of victory against the armies of Aram (1 Ki. 20:13, 22).	 	Three “sons of the prophets” had been on the battlefield at Aphek and one prophet had confronted Ahab 	about his sparing Ben-hadad (1 Ki. 20:35-42).	 	7,000 men of Israel had been preserved by God from worshiping Baal (1 Ki. 19:18).				There was still a school of prophets at Bethel, “the sons of the prophets,” when Jehoram 	became king  	(2 Ki. 2:3).	 							 	2. She threatened to kill Elijah after he slew the 450 prophets of Baal (1 Ki. 19:2).	 		 	3. She engineered the death of godly Naboth (1 Ki. 21:1-15):                                                                                                                                           		a. Ahab had wanted the ancestral land of Naboth for his vegetable garden because it was beside, 			etsel, “a joining together, proximity,” his palace but was refused. (Naboth’s land was outside but 			next to the city walls, 2 Ki. 9:22.)	 		b. Jezebel had men falsely accuse Naboth of blasphemy so that he would be killed, and when he 			was dead, she admonished Ahab to take possession of the land.   		c. Naboth’s sons were killed with him so that there were no heirs to avenge him (2 Ki. 9:26).
		One commentary noted,
		This incident which displays the worst side of Ahab’s weak character shows his wife as the true daughter of a 		pagan court—intrigue, treason, deception, public display of legality and virtue to cover subvert 				unrighteousness. The scrupulosity of apparent observance of legal (Mosaic law, for it was still official 			constitution) details, while perpetrating murder and theft, is a lesson in betrayal of public trust by official 			persons.
		For this atrocity and for their promotion of idolatry God cursed Ahab and Jezebel:
		“This is what the LORD says: ‘Have you murdered and also taken possession?’ And you [Elijah] 			shall speak to him, saying, ‘The LORD says this: “In the place where the dogs licked up the blood 			of Naboth, the dogs will lick up your blood, yours as well. Behold, I am bringing disaster upon 			you, and I will utterly sweep you away, and will eliminate from Ahab every male, both bond and 			free in Israel; and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the 		house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me 			to anger, and because you have misled Israel into sin.” ‘The LORD has also spoken of Jezebel, 			saying, “The dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel. The one belonging to Ahab, who dies 			in the city, the dogs will eat; and the one who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat”’” (1 Ki. 		21:19, 21-24).
		“The LORD has also spoken of Jezebel, saying, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of 			Jezreel’” (1 Ki. 21:23).
		“The dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and no one will bury her” (2 Ki. 9:10).

B. She tore down God’s altars.

“The sons of Israel have abandoned Your covenant, torn down, haras, “to throw down, break or tear down,” Your altars, mizbeach, “altars, places of sacrifice” (1 Ki. 19:10). 

These were not the altars at Bethel and Dan that Jeroboam had erected (with the golden calves) but were the private altars “which the prophets of the LORD had, and which good people attended who could not go up to Jerusalem, and would not worship the calves nor Baal.” By destroying these altars Jezebel was preventing the people from corporately worshiping God.

HOW DID GOD RESPOND TO THEIR PROVOCATIONS? 
He displayed the powerlessness of Baal. 
The spiritual well-being of Israel was at stake, so God intervened and used the Prophet Elijah to confront belief in Baal with a drought. God demonstrated that He controlled the weather and not Baal (who was supposed to be the god of rain and sun, and of nature and of fertility). The three-year drought highlighted the false nature of Baal and the reality of God; at the end of the three years, when Elijah petitioned Him, He brought rain to end the drought and its attendant famine (1 Ki. 17:1; 18:2; 18:41-45; Jas. 5:17).
God also used the prophet Elijah to confront belief in Baal with lightning because Baal was believed to be the god of storms and lightning. God sent Elijah to Ahab in the third year of the drought to challenge the priests of Baal and Asherah to a contest on Mt. Carmel. So, the priests of Baal assembled and prepared an offering and prayed for hours that Baal would respond with fire. When he did not answer, Elijah prayed, and God sent lightning of such force that the offering, the altar and the nearby area were all consumed (1 Ki. 18:36-38). Once again Baal was shown to be impotent. 
 He directed the people’s hearts away from Baal and back to God. 
After the contest at Mt. Carmel the people realized that Baal was a false god and that God is the true God. They worshiped and honored God and killed the 450 false prophets of Baal at the foot of Mt. Carmel, by the brook Kishon (1 Ki. 18:36-40). 
He dispatched Prophets to deter Ahab (and Jezebel).
God sent the prophet Elijah to confront Ahab about his idolatry. Elijah announced that God would send a drought upon the land as a judgment against Ahab because he had “forsaken the commandments of the LORD and you have followed the Baals’” (1 Ki. 18:18).
Then God sent an unnamed prophet to expose Ahab’s disobedience in the matter of the second war with Aram. The Arameans had invaded Israel and blasphemed God, so God empowered the Ahab’s army to destroy the much larger Aramean force. But their king, Ben-hadad, was spared, contrary to God’s word. The prophet spoke this word to Ahab, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people as his people’” (1 Ki. 20:42).
God also sent the prophet Elijah to confront Ahab at Naboth’s vineyard. After Jezebel murdered Naboth, Ahab went to take possession of his vineyard. The word of the LORD came to Elijah that he should meet Ahab there and deliver this announcement of His judgment: “Have you murdered and also taken possession?” “Thus says the LORD, In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth the dogs will lick up your blood, even yours” (1 Ki. 21:19). “Ahab said to Elijah, ‘Have you found me, O my enemy?’ And he answered, ‘I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD. Behold, I will bring evil upon you, and will utterly sweep you away, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, both bond and free in Israel; and I will make your home like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which have provoked Me to anger, and because you have made Israel sin.’ The LORD has also spoken of Jezebel, saying, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel. The one belonging to Ahab, who dies in the city, the dogs will eat; and the one who dies in the field, the birds of the sky will eat’” (1 Ki. 21:20-24).
DID THIS HAVE AN EFFECT ON AHAB? YES.
“It came about, when Ahab heard these words, that he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and fasted, and he lay in sackcloth and went about despondently” (1 Ki. 21:27). The Bible does not record any repentance by Jezebel. 
He declared Ahab’s impending death through the prophet Micaiah. 
The prophet spoke these words: “I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?’ And one spirit said this, while another said that. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You shall entice him, and you will also prevail. Go and do so.’ Now then, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours; and the LORD has declared disaster against you” (1 Ki. 22:19-23).
WHAT DID AHAB DO WHEN HE HEARD THIS?
He tried to circumvent God’s will by disguising himself as an ordinary soldier; but a random bowshot pierced Ahab with a fatal wound, and he died in his chariot that evening on the battlefield (1 Ki. 22:30, 34-35). 
WAS THE PROPHECY ABOUT AHAB FULLFILLED? YES, in part: dogs did lick up Ahab’s blood.
“So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. They washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood (now the harlots bathed themselves there), according to the word of the LORD which He spoke” (1 Ki. 22:37-38).
Matthew Henry said,   “Let no man think to hide himself from God’s judgment. God directed the arrow to hit Ahab; those cannot escape with life, whom God has doomed to death. Ahab lived long enough to see part of Micaiah’s prophecy accomplished. He had time to feel himself die; and what horror must he have thought upon the wickedness he had committed!”
He detailed Jehu to eradicate Ahab’s influence in Samaria.
Jehu killed Jehoram (Joram), Ahab’s son, Ahaziah, Ahab’s grandson, and Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, on the same day in Jezreel (2 Ki. 9:21-37).  Jehu caused the 70 sons and grandsons of Ahab to be beheaded in Samaria (2 Ki. 10:1-11). Jehu slaughtered 42 relatives of Ahaziah at Beth-eked (2 Ki. 10:12-14). Jehu killed all the Baal worshipers in Samaria, burned the sacred pillars of the house of Baal, tore down the house of Baal, and broke down the pillar of Baal (2 Ki. 10:18-26): “Thus Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel” (2 Ki. 10:28). 
She “Programmed” Her Children
Royal children in their early years were taught by their parents in their own homes. Parents were responsible for instructing their children in history, religious law, and morality. Later, royal children had tutors who might be family members, court officials or religious figures. Jezebel taught her children her own idolatrous practices, and her zeal  and her ruthlessness were also transmitted to her children and her children’s children.
A. Her sons, Azariah and Jehoram, were idolatrous.
	1. Ahaziah, her son, became king upon the death of his father, Ahab, and continued her idolatry (c. 853-851 	B.C.).
	“Ahaziah the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king 	of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years. He did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way 	of his father and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who misled Israel 	into sin. So he served Baal and worshiped him, and provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger, according to 	all that his father had done” (1 Ki. 22:51-53).
	(Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber and died after a two-year reign, 2 Ki. 1:2, 17).
	2. Jehoram (Joram), her second son and Ahaziah’s brother, became king upon his brother’s death and 	clung to Jeroboam’s idolatry (c. 853-841 B.C.). 
	“Now Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel at Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat 	king of Judah, and he reigned for twelve years. He did evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like his father 	and his mother; for he removed the memorial stone of Baal which his father had made. Nevertheless, he 	clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel; he did not abandon them (2 Ki. 	3:1-3).
	(He was confronted by Jehu, the avenger of God, and assassinated as he tried to flee to Jezreel; his body 	was cast into Naboth’s old property in accordance with the curse uttered by Elijah, 1 Ki. 21:21-24; 2 Ki. 	9:21-26).
B. Her daughter, Athaliah, was an idolator and murderer.
	1. Athaliah promoted idolatry in the Southern Kingdom of Judah after marrying King Jehoram, 	Jehoshaphat’s son.
		a. She influenced Jehoram to murder his brothers to secure his throne (c. 848-841 B.C.).
		“Now when Jehoram had taken over the kingdom of his father and gathered courage, he killed all 		his brothers with the sword, and some of the leaders of Israel as well. Jehoram was thirty-two 			years old when he became king, and he reigned for eight years in Jerusalem” (2 Chr. 21:4).
		b. She influenced Jehoram to embrace idolatry.
		“He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for Ahab’s 			daughter was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the LORD” (2 Chr. 21:6; 1 Ki. 8:16-18).
		 (Jehoram was killed by God through a painful disease in his bowels, 2 Chr. 21:18-20).
	2. Athaliah influenced her son, Ahaziah, toward idolatry when he became king (c. 841 B.C.).
	“Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place, for the band 		of men who came with the Arabs to the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of 			Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, 			and he reigned for one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the granddaughter 		of Omri. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor to act 			wickedly. So he did evil in the sight of the LORD like the house of Ahab, for they were his counselors 		after the death of his father, to his own destruction” 	(2 Chr. 22:1-4).
	(Ahaziah was assassinated by Jehu when he went to Israel to inquire about Joram’s welfare, c. 841 		B.C. He was buried in Jerusalem, 2 Ki. 9:28.)
	“And it came about, when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, that he found the 			princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers attending to Ahaziah, and killed them. He also 		searched for Ahaziah, and they caught him while he was hiding in Samaria; they brought him to 			Jehu, put him to death, and buried him. For they said, ‘He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought 			the LORD with all his heart.’ So there was no one of the house of Ahaziah to retain the power of 			the kingdom” (2 Chr. 22:8-9).
	3. Athaliah seized the throne of Judah for herself after Ahaziah was killed and then she murdered all of 	her grandchildren to secure her reign (except Joash, c. 841-835 B.C.):
	“Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and eliminated 			all the royal children of the house of Judah. But Jehoshabeath the king’s daughter took Joash the 			son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and 			placed him and his nurse in the bedroom. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the 			wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah so that she 			would not put him to death. He kept himself hidden with them in the house of God for six years 			while Athaliah reigned over the land” (2 Chr. 22:10-12).
	(Finally, Athaliah was executed when her grandson, Joash, was anointed as the rightful king, c. 			835 B.C., 2 Chr. 23:12-15).

She Perished as Prophesied
A. Her death was ordained. 
“Of Jezebel also has the LORD spoken, saying, ‘The dogs will eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel’” (1 Ki. 21:23). “The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her” (2 Ki. 9:10).  “In the property of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; and the corpse of Jezebel will be like dung on the face of the field in the property of Jezreel, so they cannot say, ‘This is Jezebel’” (2 Ki. 9:36-37).
	1. She would die in Jezreel. Jezreel was one of the royal cities during Ahab’s reign (c. 874 B.C. to 853 B.C.). 	and it remained so under the rule of Ahaziah (c. 853-851 B.C.) and Jehoram (c. 853-841 B.C.). It was also 	where Naboth’s former property was located, and where he was wrongly stoned to death (1 Ki. 21:13). 	She would die at the very site where she had had Naboth murdered.
	2. She would be eaten by dogs. Some workings dogs, like shepherd dogs and guard dogs, were kept by 	Israelites but the dogs referenced here were most likely the feral street dogs that ran in packs scavenging 	for food from garbage dumps and other refuge in the city.
	3. She would not be buried. The absence of a burial with one’s ancestors was considered to be a severe 	punishment and disgrace; it signified complete disrespect for that individual (1 Ki. 13:22; Ecc. 6:3). John 	MacArthur wrote, “To die without mourners or honors was considered worse than being born dead, even 	if one had many children and a full life.”
	4. She would be like dung on the face of the field. Her body would be so scattered about that there would 	be nothing that might be pointed to as being Jezebel.  B. Her death was accomplished, c. 843 B.C.
Jehu was anointed by Elisha’s servant on behalf of God to be the new King of Israel and was commissioned by God to execute the members of Ahab’s household, especially Jezebel (2 Ki. 9:1-10):
”You shall strike the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel. For the entire house of Ahab shall perish, and I will eliminate from Ahab every male person both slave and free in Israel. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. The dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and no one will bury her” (2 Ki. 9:7-10).
	1. Jehu came to Jezreel in search of Ahab’s family to execute them according to the word of the LORD.  	“Then Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there. Ahaziah king of Judah had 	come down to see Joram” (2 Ki. 9:16). 	“When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head, and 	looked out the window. As Jehu entered the gate, she said, ‘Is it well, Zimri, your master’s murderer?’” 	(2 Ki. 9:30). 
		a. Jehu and a company of charioteers had gone straight to Jezreel from his commissioning at 			Ramoth-Gilead (21 miles due east) to execute King Jehoram (Joram), who was in Jezreel with 			the royal family recovering from wounds sustained in a war with Aram (2 Ki. 9:14-26; 2 Ch. 22:6). 			They probably traveled all day without a break and met Jehoram outside the fortress, on the 			eastern side in Naboth’s former property, slew him and cast his body into Naboth’s vineyard  		(2 Ki. 9:25-26).  		 b. Jehu also there encountered King Ahaziah of Judah, Jezebel’s grandson, who was visiting 			Jehoram at Jezreel. After killing Jehoram Jehu pursued Ahaziah to the ascent of Gur by Ibleam (a 			short distance from Jezreel) and mortally wounded Him (2 Ki. 9:24; 27-28; 2 Chr. 22:9).

		c. Jehu returned to Jezreel, probably right after wounding Ahaziah, and entered the city gate, 			shaar, “a gate.” 

		WHAT WAS A GATE? 		 		A gate was more than just a fortified opening in a wall in the 9th century B.C.; it was a large multi-			purpose 	structure that served as a civic forum where business was conducted, a legal and 			political center where public and political proceedings took place, a marketplace where 				merchants brought their goods to sell, and a place where there were rooms from which soldiers 			could defend the city. Excavations at Jezreel reveal that the massive, projecting gate there had 			four to six chambers surrounding an open area.

		d. Jehu went to Jezebel: he and his men drove their chariots over to the royal residence, which 			was apparently built into the eastern wall of the fortress, and stopped directly below Jezebel, 			who was watching from a second-story window (2 Ki. 9:30). Since speed had been essential to 			the success of his mission, Jehu and his men would have been mounted in war chariots, each of 			which were pulled by a team of two fast war horses (2 Ki. 9:4, 20), horses that had been trained 		to trample enemies underfoot.

	2. Jezebel had prepared to meet Jehu.

	WHY DID SHE DO THIS?

	Jezebel seems to have deduced that a coup de état was in progress and that she was probably in danger. 	She was 	familiar with coups because her father, Ethbaal, had ruthlessly staged a coup-de-état to attain his 	throne in Sidon, and she was apparently familiar with Israel’s history of violent coups and their attendant 	purges (1 Ki. 15:27-30; 16:9-11, 21-23). She also knew that during this era coups involved the elimination 	of the former king’s male relatives and influential associates. 

	She probably did not consider that the events unfolding before her were the results of anything more 	than human ambition. Possibly this was because Elijah had predicted that Ahab’s blood would be “licked 	up” by dogs in Naboth’s vineyard (1 Ki. 21:19) which had not happened (because Ahab had repented, 	and God had deferred imposing judgment until his son’s days, 1 Ki. 21:27-29); and when Ahab was killed, 	he died at Ramoth-Gilead and not at Jezreel (1 Ki. 22:34-40); and while prophecy had predicted an end to 	Ahab’s line, it had been ten uneventful years since Ahab had died. (Jezebel would not have known that 	God had just appointed Jehu to exterminate Ahab’s family line and to execute her.)  		a. She had heard, shama, “to hear,” about, al, “upon, above, over,” his coming. Probably she had 			heard her servants give a report about the events that had been happening or, perhaps, she 			had heard the commotion herself and surmised that Jehu would come to her.  		b. She had painted, sum, “to put, place, set + puk, “antimony, stibium,” her eyes and adorned, 			yatab, “to be good, well,” her head, rosh, “head.” The literal Hebrew of this whole phrase reads, 			“To Jezreel Jehu when was come and she painted heard and Jezebel and her and tired face and 			she painted and her a window at and looked out head.” Jezebel defiantly dressed as a Phoenician 		royal with kohl accented eyes, make-up on her face and possibly a turban on her head in an 			“attempt to appear regal, maintain dignity, and project power despite her imminent downfall.” 
		c. She looked, shaqaph, “to overhang, look down on,” out the window, i.e., she leaned out of the 			window to address Jehu. 
		d. She had readied a greeting, “Is it well, Zimri, your master’s murderer?” Another rendering of 			the Hebrew reads “Was there peace to Zimri, slayer of his lord?” 
		WHO WAS ZIMRI?
		
		Zimri was a general who killed his king, Elah (the son of Baasha), killed the rest of Baasha’s 			household, and ruled for only seven days before he was ousted by another general, Omri, Ahab’s 			father (1 Ki. 16:9, 12-15). John MacArthur’s “Study Notes” note that, “In referring to Jehu by that 			name, Jezebel sarcastically alluded to the previous purge of Zimri ( 1Ki. 16:9-15). Since Zimri died 			7 days after beginning to reign, Jezebel was implying that the same fate awaited Jehu.” 
	3. Jezebel died a gruesome death.

	“Then he lifted up his face to the window and said, ‘Who is on my side? Who?’ And two or three officials 	looked down at him. He said, ‘Throw her down.’ So they threw her down, and some of her blood was 	sprinkled on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her underfoot. When he came in, he ate and 	drank; and he said, ‘See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.’ They went 	to bury her, but they found nothing more of her than the skull, and the feet and the palms of her hands. 	(2Ki. 9:30-36). 

		a. She was cast down from a second-story window. Two or three of her own officials, saris, 			“eunachs,” threw, shamat, “to let drop,” her, i.e., dropped or shoved her out the window at Jehu’s 		command.   		b. She was trampled, ramas, “to trample, tread,” by horses. Jehu took advantage of the 				opportunity to dispatch Jezebel then and there and directed the chariot horses to trample 			Jezebel’s fallen body to death. So violent was the mele that her blood splattered not just the 			horses but the palace wall behind her.  		c. She was consumed by dogs, keleb, “dogs,” just as Elijah had prophesied. Her body had been left 		unattended, in a pool of blood, while Jehu and his men ate a meal. The scavenger dogs, drawn by 			the smell of blood, dismembered, carried off and consumed Jezebel’s body, leaving nothing but 			her skull, her feet and the palms of her hands. It was exactly as God had said, “In the property of 			Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; and the corpse of Jezebel will be like dung on the 			face of the field in the property of Jezreel, so they cannot say, ‘This is Jezebel’” (2 Ki. 9:36-37).
		The New Bible Commentary had this to say of her demise,
		Her death was horrendously brutal. The deliberate trampling of her body by Jehu’s chariot–team (33) went 			beyond Elijah’s prophecy (1 Ki. 21:23), just as Jehu’s quotation of that prophecy (36-37) went beyond the 			original in detail and savagery. Jehu’s action of eating and drinking while the dogs disposed of her remains 			(34) highlights his own callousness.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM HER? 
1. Parents have a tremendous influence for good or evil in their children’s lives. Children don’t come into this world as blank slates, as some claim, but are born sinful as the result of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God in the garden of Eden (Psa. 51:5); as such they are prone to evil (Exo. 32:22). However, their environment also impacts them from birth onwards (Eze. 16:4-5). Psychoanalysts say that how parents train a child in the first three years of his development affects the rest of his life. How to handle his emotions, his attitude toward authority figures, his interests, values, sentiments, and motivations can all be shaped by parental guidance. All the years of a child’s life provide important opportunities to teach him: Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” 
Merrill Tenney helpfully offered guidance on the parenting of older children,
“It is a worthwhile guideline that the period from seven to fourteen years of age is the best for memorizing, and the period of adolescence from fourteen to twenty-one years of age is the best period for reasoning… Since adolescence is a period when religious experiences and problems are dealt with most profoundly, an environment of intellectual honesty within a Christian framework should be provided.
 Christian parents must be diligent to shape the characters of their children through consistent Bible instruction, memorization of the Bible, by the modeling of Christian behavior, and by consistent, loving discipline, if they want their children to become godly. 
2. “Bad company corrupts good morals” (1 Co. 15:33). Ahab foolishly brought the corrupting influence of Jezebel into his personal and professional life, and she wrought havoc in both. Our enemy Satan, the god of this world (2Co. 4:4) wants to corrupt, phtheiro, “to destroy, corrupt, spoil,” good morals, ethos, “custom, morals,” and he often uses people as his instruments. As John MacArthur noted, “By word or example, bad, or evil, friends are a corrupting influence.” And today bad company, homilia, “company, associations,” may not be restricted to friends or even acquaintances because, through technology, we can bring the bad company of strangers right into our homes by means of television, movies, mobile devices, printed materials, and music. The Apostle Paul compiled a list of sinfulness, “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these” (Gal. 5:19-21). Jesus also said, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders” (Mat. 15:19). Often, these are the very things which our television programs, movies, books and music lyrics promote. Proverbs 4:14-17 warns us, “Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not proceed in the way of wicked men. Avoid it, pass by it; for they cannot sleep unless they do evil; and they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.” While Christians have new natures as new creatures in Christ (2 Co.5:17) we can still be influenced by bad company; we can still compromise to our hurt when faced with the temptation to participate in or be entertained by sin. We must evaluate our “company” by the word of God and restrict our exposure to the bad because “bad company corrupts good morals.” 
3. God is patient toward unbelievers: “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance” (2Pe. 3:9). The LORD gave Jezebel time to repent of her wickedness, but she would not, and she died in her sins. However, God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but desires them to turn back from their evil ways (Eze. 33:11). The book of Romans admonishes, “Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? (Rom. 2:4). What is repentance? John MacArthur preached that, “Biblically…repentance is a total about-face—turning away from sin and self and unto God (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:9).” Another commentator said, “It is a total change of mind and heart. It is a turning away from sin and rebellion against God, and a turning toward God. It is a ‘godly sorrow’ for sin (2 Co. 7:9).” And while God is patient, His patience does come to an end (Rom. 2:4-5; 2 Pe. 3:8-10). He says, “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other (Isa. 45:22); and “Having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent (Act. 17:30); and “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mar. 1:15). What is the gospel? “The gospel is the saving work of God in His Son Jesus Christ and a call to faith in Him (Rom. 1:16-17).” R. C. Sproul also said,  
In New Testament terms, the Gospel is the proclamation of the person and work of Jesus Christ, plus, how the benefits of that work can be appropriated to us by faith and by faith alone. So, the Gospel has a narrow definition: it’s the message about Jesus. Now, there are other good tidings—the Kingdom of God, all of that—but specifically if we look at what we call the charigma, in the New Testament, the Apostolic proclamation of the Gospel, it focuses on Christ, who He is, what He did, and how we receive His benefits.

As Charles Spurgeon noted, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment (Heb. 9:27). The only refuge from this wrath is Jesus Himself, who bore the full fury of divine justice on behalf of His people. On the cross He drained the cup of wrath, so that repentant sinners might drink the cup of salvation.”
 
4. Sincere devotion to a false religion earns only God’s wrath (Jn. 3:36; Rom. 1:18.).  Ahab and Jezebel provoked God to anger by their adherence to idolatry. They had the beauty, complexity, and vastness of the universe to show them that God is the Creator of all; they had consciences that warned them that their worship of their false gods was evil (Pro. 20:27; Rom 2:15); they had God’s prophets to proclaim the truth to them; and they had miracles performed before them so that they were without excuse in their evil. Instead of acknowledging and honoring God as Creator and Lord and giving thanks they suppressed the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:19-20); instead of repenting of their wickedness they refused to love the truth and so be saved (2 Th. 2:10). 
God is a jealous God. He has proclaimed, “You shall have no other gods besides Me” (Deu. 5:7). God has also declared, “Therefore know today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other” (Deu. 4:39) and “There is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth” (Isa. 45:21-22). God has given mankind proof in creation, in man’s conscience, and in His written Bible, that He is and that He alone deserves our worship and obedience (Mat. 4:10; Heb. 12:28; Rev. 22:8). And God has commanded that all people everywhere repent and believe in Him (Act. 17:30). The current notion that God will accept someone who sincerely believes in a false religion is a damning lie, a doctrine of demons (1 Ti. 4:1; Col. 2:8; Jas. 3:15). There is only one way to come to God and that is through Jesus Christ: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved” (Act. 4:12) and John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus also said in the gospel of John, “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (Jn. 3:36). Idolators of every kind will one day experience only God’s wrath in hell because they rejected their only Savior.

© Copyright Kathryn Capoccia 2025. This file may be freely copied, printed out, and distributed as long as copyright and source statement remain intact, and that it is not sold.